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And Then There's That Waiver...

Making room for Onex to take over
its commercial plants in Wichita, KS, and Tulsa and McAlester, OK,
Boeing is laying off 9,300 people. The company also demands workers
sign a waiver allowing Boeing to release personnel records to the
new owners.

The move wasn't completely unexpected, said workers, but that
doesn't ease the anxiety rippling through all three facilities.

"The reality sets in today," said Bob Brewer, Midwest director
for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
He was quoted by the venerable Wichita Eagle. "That's got to set
people back on their heels."

The information Onex wants under that waiver includes names,
social security numbers, job titles and wage rates. Onex Managing
Director Nigel Wright said employees who didn't sign the waiver
could re-apply for their jobs in another way, but the waiver made
clear not signing it could mean the plants' new owners won't make a
re-hiring offer.

Still, "It will make it much easier
for us to communicate with them and plan for them," Wright said of
the waivers. Although Wright said the information collection
wouldn't include disciplinary records, union leaders complained the
wording on the waiver form was vague on just what Boeing would turn
over to Onex.

"There's tension," Boeing designer Jack Patton of the atmosphere
at the plant told the Eagle. If you don't fill out the waiver, "you
probably won't be offered a position," he said.